TASSC International: 24-Hour Vigil of Remembrance Thursday, June 26th - June 27th 2003 ~ (Dupont Circle /Red Line) 6:00 - 7:00 am Set Up7:00 - 8:00 am Opening Ceremony: TASSC International 8:00 – 8:30 am Religious Taskforce on Central America8:30 - 9:00 am Survivors: Colombia9:00 - 9:30 am American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee9:30 - 10:00 am Mexico Solidarity Network: Survivors10:00 -10:30 am East Timor Action Network10:30 -10:45 am Program for Survivors of Torture and Severe Trauma10:45 - 11:00 am Center for Victims of Torture11:00 - 11:30 am McKenna Center for the Homeless11:30-12:00 SOA WatchNoon -12:30 Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns12:30 - 1:00 pm Music: Katie Roberts and Mary Shapiro1:00 -1:30 pm Marjorie Kovler Center for Survivors of Torture1:30 - 2:00 pm Survivors - Afghanistan2:00 - 2:30 pm Free Burma Coalition2:30 - 3:00 pm Survivor: Cameroon3:00 - 3:30 pm Survivors: Algeria and Kenya 3:30 - 4:00 pm Amnesty International4:00 - 4:30 pm Anti-Death Penalty Coalition – Bill Menza4:30 - 5:00 p.m. EPICA5:00 - 5:30 pm Survivors: Poetry 5:30 - 6:00 pm Ched Myers6:00 - 6:30 pm North American Council of Muslim Women6:30 - 6:45 pm Paraguayan Dancers 6:45 - 7:00 pm World Sindh Institute7:00 - 7:15 pm Colombia Human Rights Committee7:15 - 7:30 pm Dorothy Day Catholic Worker7:30 - 8:00 pm Coalition Missing - Survivors8:00 - 8:30 pm International Campaign for Tibet – (Flute music) 8:30 - 8:45 p.m. Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA8:45 - 9:00 pm Survivor and Syndicated Columnist9:00 - 9:30 pm Committee to Free Lori Berenson9:30 -10:00 pm Survivors: H.I.J.O.S.10:00 -1l:00 pm Interfaith Service11:00 -11:30 pm Quixote Center11:30 - Midnight Jonah House12:00 -12:30 am Survivor: Albania12:30 -1:00 am Music1:00 - 1:30 am Survivor: US/Guatemala1:30 - 2:00 am NISGUA2:00 - 4:00 am Silent Candlelight Procession to the White House4:00 - 4:15 am Survivor: Basque Country4:15 - 4:30 am Reflections by Alice Zachman4:30 - 5:00 am Pax Christi5:00 - 5:15 am Quiet Reflection5:15 - 6:00 am Falung Gong: Speaker and T’ai Chi Movements6:00 - 6:30 am Closing Ceremony -TASSC International – (Blessing of some type)6:30 - 7:00 am Clean-Up Note: In case of rain, the Vigil will be held at St. Margaret’s Church, 1830 Connecticut Avenue, NW (between California and Bancroft).

You are right Franklin. That would be wrong for me to do that. I was just all excited after watching Bush’s best chance for re-election being interviewed by Tim Russert and must have lost my composure.

Hi everyone. there is a NEW ZINE OUT WITH A BLOWBACK INTERVIEW. I just realeased the first issue with the Blowback interview. To recieve it send $1/3 stamps/or trade to:Never19844401 Fair Oaks Ave.Menlo Park, CA 94025P.S. I have no idea how this message board works.

Mike, if moveon.org is trying to have a democratic process, why sabotage it by voting 150 times with different names? You believe in democracy, so why do that?Don't worry, i'm sure either Kucinich or Dean will get the moveon.org nomination without your sacrificing your principles.Still no WMDs... GIs still dying...

Who saw Howard Dean on Meet the Press today?? This guy is great! Finally, a liberal who is not afraid to look, talk and act like a liberal. He makes McGovern look mainstream. Go Howard Go!!! He is the perfect candidate to get Bush re-elected in 2004.moveon.org is going to have an on-line poll very soon. I plan on voting at least 150 times myself for Howard Dean. Cast your vote(s) as well.

Wal-Mart Ordered To Recognize Union; Workers Win Historic Bargaining Order| June 18, 2003 | U.S. NewswireCompany Ordered to Turn Over Information to Union WASHINGTON, June 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- When meat cutters at a Jacksonville, Tex., Wal-Mart voted for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 540 representation, the company refused to recognize the union -- and suddenly changed the job functions of the meat cutters with a change to case-ready meat. Wal-Mart believed it had successfully circumvented the UFCW's first victory at one of its stores -- until a National Labor Relations Board Administrative Law Judge ordered the company to recognize and bargain with Local 540 over the effects of the change to prepackaged meat. This order comes more than three years after the original union election. "Changing the way all of its stores sell meat shows the extent to which Wal-Mart will go to keep the union out of its stores," says UFCW Executive Vice President Mike Leonard. "Anytime management concocts a scheme to ratchet down people's livelihoods, it says a lot about the real nature of the company." Wal-Mart quickly changed how the Jacksonville store's meat department operated after the workers voted for Local 540, making the meat cutters into "sales associates." The sudden switch to case-ready meat became evidence of the scope of Wal-Mart's anti-union strategy. Wal-Mart even boasted to its managers in a Powerpoint presentation, "It's the ultimate union avoidance strategy!" The meat cutters' specialized skills were devalued once their work assignments were changed. "The absence of future wage increases, coupled with the effects of inflation, constitute a very demonstrable and adverse effect," the judge concluded. "The elimination of work requiring their special skills greatly affected both job satisfaction and future earning potential." The judge has ordered Wal-Mart to recognize UFCW Local 540 as the bargaining representative for the meat cutters, and restore the department to its prior structure. The judge also ordered Wal-Mart to bargain with Local 540 concerning the effects of the decision to eliminate meat cutting from the Jacksonville store. Wal-Mart must provide the information regarding decision to switch to prepackaged meats that it withheld from the workers' union at the time of the change. On Tuesday, Local 540 President Johnny Rodriguez formally requested the start of bargaining with Wal-Mart. Such negotiations would mark the first time that Wal-Mart and the union would sit at the bargaining table. "This is a historic decision-the first bargaining order issued against Wal-Mart in the United States," explains Leonard. "It is a victory for all Wal-Mart workers who are fighting for a voice at work." The meat cutters in Jacksonville became the first group of workers to vote for union representation at Wal-Mart in February, 2000. Just one month later -- during a separate NLRB hearing on a union election at a meat department in Palestine, Tex. -- Wal-Mart announced it had decided to replace freshly cut meat with case-ready meat-eliminating the need for meat cutters in every one of its stores. Wal-Mart has repeatedly stated that it will not bargain with any union, and has taken steps to prevent workers from organizing in stores across North America.http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=109-06182003

Here is a sports fan’s analogy that pretty much sums up the previous administration:Bill Clinton became the Quarterback of a team that was in first place. From that point on Bill seemed more interested in the cheerleaders than the game. At one point during a play he dropped his pants, exposed himself, and asked a cheerleader to “kiss it” – while his pants were around his ankles the other team took the ball and scored a touchdown. Later, Bill Clinton was on the sidelines having a cheerleader perform fellatio – the offense had no choice and snapped the ball to the empty backfield (Bill’s moans could be heard over the crowd noise) - the defense grabbed ball and scored again. Near the end of the season, Bill’s team was in last place. The coaches decided to fire him because the team went from first place to last place while Bill was quarterback. So the team got a new quarterback – the next day Bill says to the media “See, the team is in last place. It is all the new quarterback’s fault”

I would definitely sign the on-line petition on the moveon.org (a.k.a. leave_bubba_and_monica_alone.org) site if the probe starts at, oh about October 1998. It was about that time that prominent Democrats like Slick Willie, Tom Dashole and Carl Levin made their speeches calling for disarmament of Saddam, sighting the same evidence/intelligence that the current group is. Funny how the same Carl Levin is the one leading the charge against the same sources he used to support his claims under a Democrat President. More distortions and lies; but from which side? Time will tell. Heads should roll if we find proof of lies no matter who the liars are.

Glad to hear it went so well.Sorry I couldn't be there.DSFps - I have been busy reading the more.. uh... mainstream media's stories about Jessica Lynch. Funny.... hmmm.

A great show was had on Friday the thirteenth with the help of a lot of friends, including Margaux, Nadine, Martin, Andrew, Melinda, Stephanie, Janai, Joanna, and Jason. Look for more combos of spoken word and puppets in the future.People who came also had the opportunity to sign a petition calling for the indictment of General Pinochet for the 1976 car-bombing in Washington, DC; to all presidential candidates calling for repeal of Patriot Act I and opposition to Patriot II; and participated in contest to find Saddam's weapons of mass destruction, the reason given by Bush for launching the nation into a pre-emptive war thast, by the way, continues to claim lives of GIs and Iraquis alike.In the meantime, from moveon.org, an on-line petition:1. Please call for an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate the distortion of Iraq intelligence. The investigation should include open hearings with testimony from government and outside witnesses that conclude with an unclassified report to the American people. 2. Please co-sponsor H. Res. 260, a Resolution of Inquiry that compels the administration to turn over “documents or other materials in the President’s possession” to substantiate claims that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the U.S.. The House International Relations Committee is expected to vote on this resolution on Wednesday, June 18th. Some committee members may vote against this resolution by claiming that Congressional hearings will be sufficient. This would be a mistake. The closed-door hearings will not produce the answers that this resolution requires – and the American people deserve. A President may make no more important decision than whether or not to take a country to war. If Bush or his officials deceived the American public to create support for the Iraq war, he needs to be held accountable.

Thanks Mike. Wish you could be there although the overall tenor would probably be best met by you if you took a little dramamine ahead of time (anti-nausea). But who knows? You might enjoy yourself. Actually, I have no doubt you would not be bored at all.

Good luck tonight Franklin

WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO PROTEST AGAINST EVERYTHING FREE SHOW IN HONOR OF ACLU’S MEMBERSHIP CONFERENCEHosted by the ACLU- National Capital AreaTHIS FRIDAY, the 13TH of JUNE10:00PM--MIDNIGHT, DOORS OPEN AT 9:30pm Featuring:BLOWBACK, political punk rockin a musical/theatrical experiment with MARGAUX DELOTTE-BENNET and FriendsMargaux is a poet with Spoken Resistance and a Puppeteer with the Washington Action Group.SANCTUARY THEATER (“Casa del Pueblo”), 1459 COLUMBIA ROAD, N.W.The musical/theatrical experiment will consist in trying to blend BLOWBACK’s political punk songs with Margaux’s Spoken Word and Puppeteer performance to achieve one musical and thematic narrative.The specific content of the performance in no way represents the specific positions of the ACLU or its local affiliates.

Thanks for the suggestion Mike but one site is enough for me (in terms of posting messages)! In the meantime, here's a good column about the misleading of the nation into war:Who's Accountable?By PAUL KRUGMANThe Bush and Blair administrations are trying to silence critics — many of them current or former intelligence analysts — who say that they exaggerated the threat from Iraq. Last week a Blair official accused Britain's intelligence agencies of plotting against the government. (Tony Blair's government has since apologized for January's "dodgy dossier.") In this country, Colin Powell has declared that questions about the justification for war are "outrageous."Yet dishonest salesmanship has been the hallmark of the Bush administration's approach to domestic policy. And it has become increasingly clear that the selling of the war with Iraq was no different.For example, look at the way the administration rhetorically linked Saddam to Sept. 11. As The Associated Press put it: "The implication from Bush on down was that Saddam supported Osama bin Laden's network. Iraq and the Sept. 11 attacks frequently were mentioned in the same sentence, even though officials have no good evidence of such a link." Not only was there no good evidence: according to The New York Times, captured leaders of Al Qaeda explicitly told the C.I.A. that they had not been working with Saddam.Or look at the affair of the infamous "germ warfare" trailers. I don't know whether those trailers were intended to produce bioweapons or merely to inflate balloons, as the Iraqis claim — a claim supported by a number of outside experts. (According to the newspaper The Observer, Britain sold Iraq a similar system back in 1987.) What is clear is that an initial report concluding that they were weapons labs was, as one analyst told The Times, "a rushed job and looks political." President Bush had no business declaring "we have found the weapons of mass destruction." We can guess how Mr. Bush came to make that statement. The first teams of analysts told administration officials what they wanted to hear, doubts were brushed aside, and officials then made public pronouncements greatly overstating even what the analysts had said.A similar process of cherry-picking, of choosing and exaggerating intelligence that suited the administration's preconceptions, unfolded over the issue of W.M.D.'s before the war. Most intelligence professionals believed that Saddam had some biological and chemical weapons, but they did not believe that these posed any imminent threat. According to the newspaper The Independent, a March 2002 report by Britain's Joint Intelligence Committee found no evidence that Saddam posed a significantly greater threat than in 1991. But such conclusions weren't acceptable.Last fall former U.S. intelligence officials began warning that official pronouncements were being based on "cooked intelligence." British intelligence officials were so concerned that, The Independent reports, they kept detailed records of the process. "A smoking gun may well exist over W.M.D., but it may not be to the government's liking," a source said.But the Bush administration found scraps of intelligence suiting its agenda, and officials began making strong pronouncements. "Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons — the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have," Mr. Bush said on Feb. 8. On March 16 Dick Cheney declared, "We believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons."It's now two months since Baghdad fell — and according to The A.P., military units searching for W.M.D.'s have run out of places to look.One last point: the Bush administration's determination to see what it wanted to see led not just to a gross exaggeration of the threat Iraq posed, but to a severe underestimation of the problems of postwar occupation. When Gen. Eric Shinseki, the Army chief of staff, warned that occupying Iraq might require hundreds of thousands of soldiers for an extended period, Paul Wolfowitz said he was "wildly off the mark" — and the secretary of the Army may have been fired for backing up the general. Now a force of 150,000 is stretched thin, facing increasingly frequent guerrilla attacks, and a senior officer told The Washington Post that it might be two years before an Iraqi government takes over. The Independent reports that British military chiefs are resisting calls to send more forces, fearing being "sucked into a quagmire."I'll tell you what's outrageous. It's not the fact that people are criticizing the administration; it's the fact that nobody is being held accountable for misleading the nation into war.

I knew you would pounce on this Franklin. You ought to visit the Hillary site and present your views to the conservatives who took it over.

Let's deconstruct, shall we?The president talked a lot about weapons of mass destruction in that speech, but he also addressed all these other concerns from supporting terrorism (Has the left also forgotten the Salmon Pak terrorist training facility?) to repressing the Iraqi people.>> Seems like there still is NO proof that Al Queda was working with Hussein. None. If there was, i think it would be trumpeted and loudly proclaimed. Instead, silence. When the president addressed the Iraqi people, he didn't mention a word about WMD. He talked about freedom.>> True but when addressing the American people whom he supposedly leads, he focused on WMD and terrorism. How else does one justify a first-strike, aggressive war (as opposed to a war of legitimate self-defense)? Those focusing exclusively on the WMDs are simply desperate, out-of-power people seeking to inflict any damage they can on Bush.>> Out of power, yes. Desperate, no. Bush is the one bombing countries, creating a monstruous deficit, and raping the environment. He's the one that's inflicting great damage on this nation and on the earth. What's shocking is that they're the same people who always honored themselves by speaking out in favor of human rights, yet they would've left the Iraqi people to the tender mercies of Saddam's thugs rather than see them liberated by this president.>> What's really funny are all these sudden lovers of the Iraqui people who until Hill and Knowlton did the wag the dog campaign on Bush I, had no clue where Iraq was despite years of activism from human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Ditto for the new lovers of the Iraqui people who until Bush II decided he needed another country to bomb to keep his ratings up had no concern for the freedom of the Iraquis. What about the poor Saudis? or the poor Burmese? or the poor Palestinians? what about their freedom? The newfound love for the Iraqui people is bullshit - and that will be revealed when the "liberated" Iraquis bleed the US out of Iraq, jsut like Hezzbollah bled the Israelis out of Lebanon. Sad but true. Hypocrisy rampant, the future uncertain, more and more lives being destroyed, and the occupants of the White House laugh at the stupidity of the American people everytime they issue another bold lie. They learned Goebbel's lesson well: when you lie, lie BIG.

Here is a rich sample of the funniest chat-room I’ve seen in a while:http://www.hillary.org/hc/Hillary_Clinton_Forum_897_chat1.cgiName: Dr. PETER HERTZ, urologyTo: Lord of FliesIn response to: Excuse me?Are you trying to tell us there is something unacceptable about lying NOT under oath about a consensual relationship that did not include the act described as SEX in Maryland law?Or are you just putting up a smokescreen that implies somehow it is alright for Bush to lie America into committing war crimes because Clinton did not want to damage his marriage?Or are you only attempting to put it all into a "They all do it" black bag, ignoring the 320 Americans and 12,000 Afghanis and 7-10,000 Iraqis MURDERED thanks to Bush's lie? Message: I am on call for my colleague and partner, Dr. Burns, today. I believe what he would suggest is that critics ignore uncomfortable facts such as this from President Bush's (btw, no relation to Dr. Hunter Bush of the OB/Gyn group of Dr. Seymour Kuntz, Dr. Hunter Bush, Dr. Roland Finger, and Dr. Sawyer Beaver) speech to the United Nations on September 12, 2002 wherein Bush mentions weapons of mass destruction briefly, and then cites Iraq's support for terrorism, its persecution of civilians, its failure to obey Security Council resolutions, "release or account for all Gulf War personnel," return the remains and return stolen property, "accept liability for losses resulting from the invasion of Kuwait and fully cooperate with international efforts to resolve these issues, as required by Security Council resolutions." Bush cited the Oil for Food program, which turned out to be Kofi Annan's private Enron. In addition: "If the Iraqi regime wishes peace it will immediately end all illicit trade outside the oil-for-food program. It will accept UN administration of funds from that program to ensure that the money is used fairly and promptly for the benefit of the Iraqi people. If all these steps are taken, it will signal a new openness and accountability in Iraq, and it could open the prospect of the United Nations helping to build a government that represents all Iraqis." On March 17 of 2003, Bush delivered his final ultimatum to Saddam Hussein. The president talked a lot about weapons of mass destruction in that speech, but he also addressed all these other concerns from supporting terrorism (Has the left also forgotten the Salmon Pak terrorist training facility?) to repressing the Iraqi people. When the president addressed the Iraqi people, he didn't mention a word about WMD. He talked about freedom. Those focusing exclusively on the WMDs are simply desperate, out-of-power people seeking to inflict any damage they can on Bush. What's shocking is that they're the same people who always honored themselves by speaking out in favor of human rights, yet they would've left the Iraqi people to the tender mercies of Saddam's thugs rather than see them liberated by this president.

Mike, i hear you brother. we really do see things very differently but am glad we agree on the importance of freedom of speech, of belief, of association, in short, the Bill of Rights. But there's a disconnect between love for them and support for the policies of Ashcroft's and Bush's Department of Justice which seems hellbent on trampling on the Constitution.

Mr. Scared to say who you really are:A wise man I know named Hack pointed out to me a long time ago that anyone can sign on using multiple aliases and say anything without recourse. This is not a way to get respect. How can I reply to your ad homonym attack when you hide behind a pseudonym? Although I rarely share the same political views as Franklin, Hack, Senor, BIII, Unknown Soldier, Bob, Carlos (where ever he went *wink*) and possibly a couple other people, I do respect them and their opinions. Our Liberty is a wonderful thing and one of the primary things that makes this country great. It apparently scares you. We are after all, a melting pot.

Let's try and keep the personal attacks to a minimum. We've wanted from the beginning to have this forum open to any and all ideas, even when they don't agree with ours. This will continue to be the case. Why don't we stick to discussing the issues that are affecting us all.Thanks to all for participating.

Bush sucks serious ass, pass it on! Gore sucks but Bush sucks even more ass!FREE SHOW IN HONOR OF ACLU'S MEMBERSHIP CONFERENCEFRIDAY the 13TH of JUNE10:00PM--MIDNIGHT, DOORS OPEN AT 9:30pm Featuring:BLOWBACK, political punk rockin a musical/theatrical experiment with LOCAL AREA POETS AND PUPPETEERSSANCTUARY THEATER, 1459 COLUMBIA ROAD, N.W.The musical/theatrical experiment will consist in trying to blend BLOWBACK's political punk songs with Spoken Word and Puppeteer performance to achieve one musical and dramatic narrative.

You probably already know this from your personal interactions with real live people, but everyone hates you, Mike.Why? Because you're a pompous right-wing ideologue who thinks that repetition of the same Rush Limbaugh idiocies is rational debate and you don't give a dman about anyone but yourself. When all us commies and anarchists rise up and take over (LOL), we'll just put you against a wall and waste a perfectly good bullet on you.Oh - would this be considered a personal attack? Sorry. I just hate this idiot filling up our space with his ignorance.

Thanks for the offer Hack but I too have way too many T-shirts. I need to make room in my closet for my new “Four More in 2004!” shirts.BTW,Did you guys know it took longer for Janet Reno to burn down a church in Waco than the Democrats want to give time to the US Military to find the WMD’s?

Tell you what Mike, I've got all the t-shirts I need, but I'll trade you one of my Harley shirts for one of your shirts. Just send it to the same address I gave 4 months ago when I requested a copy of Smash magazine (which strangely never arrived), include your return adress, and I'll send you a nice, patriotic Harley shirt. Fair?

Destroying the USA? What a laugh. Uncontrolled borders, multiculturalism, radical leftist lawyers, Liberalism & Socialism are what’s destroying the USA. If Al Gore and his band of crooked lawyers were successful in their selective recount scam, we would be even worse off than we were in 2000. Fortunately, we have a President who is poised to return this country to the people as opposed to the special interest whack jobs. This may be a sad fact for you but it gives me hope that the Liberal agenda is, for the moment being usurped. On this we apparently agree. What is your shirt size: S M L XL XXL XXXL

To an Old Fan -Send a message to info@blowback.org and identify yourself, puppy. or else you will get a necktie!Mike - Bush did not win the popular vote. That is an incontrovertible fact. And the Supreme Court, in "finding" in his favor, did rule that the Constitution does not guarantee the right to vote.Those are sad facts: Bush is a usurper and anti-democrat who is destroying the USA. But don't take my word for it - Check out what the Inspector General of the Justice Department said in their report released yesterday.And where are those weapons of mass destruction? And if we "won" the war in Iraq, why are GIs still dying?

LMFAO!!! You must be a complete moron. I had you pegged from the beginning. Sadly, this country has too many anti-Americans chain rattling victims like you. Do you have a pilot’s license? Life is too damn short to spend it plotting evil deeds against the country you are “sadly” a citizen of. I was serious about the “Sore Loosermant 2000” t-shirt offer. You could dye it red and wear it as a diaper to remind yourself of your childhood and your communist parents. Also, thank God Al Gore and his band of crooked lawyers were unsuccessful in their selective recount scam. The best man won. His name is George W. Bush, our President.

Sadly, I am still a US citizen. And yes I am fighting against it. And they have my number. alleged acts.... whatever. Let's end this here - no point talking to someone as ignorant as you.ps - it was Bush who "lost" the vote. Don't ever forget that.